Borkowski ’96, QBing a Horizons trip to campus. Photos provided
Greg Borkowski ’96 wasn’t sure he wanted the job. Horizons for Youth, a Chicago nonprofit that offers tutoring, mentorship and myriad other supports for low-income students and families, needed an executive director.
After more than two decades, Audrey George ’90 was stepping down. It was 2020, the height of the pandemic, and Borkowski had been leading advancement for DePaul University’s business school for only about a year. Not an ideal time for a career change.
“At the beginning I was kind of just exploring, is this something I want to do?” he says. “By the end of it, I would have been pretty devastated had I not gotten the opportunity.”
Horizons often captivates people that way. For Borkowski, the duration of relationships in an organization that works with kids from kindergarten into young adulthood was a big part of the appeal. To make that longevity possible, parents have to enroll their kids young, no later than fourth grade.
The program serves more than 200 students, with about 95 percent of those eligible returning each year. Academic program managers each work with 35 to 45 students to meet their individual needs. That might include tutoring, tuition assistance for parochial schools, career workshops, or mental and physical health support services.
Parents — and the students themselves as they age into high school and beyond — must hold up their end. They have to monitor school attendance and ensure their kids show up on time. They must submit their children’s report cards at least twice a year and attend a minimum of one “parent café” per quarter, virtual events that focus on a variety of topics. The expectations are put in writing at a required annual contract-signing session.
“Even with the parents who have been there 10 years, they still come to those mandatory meetings,” says Meghan Colgan ’04, senior director for program services. “And I say anything in the contract, we have found, is critical to the success of your children. That’s why it’s there, there’s no other reason.”
Results affirm the effectiveness of the fine print. One hundred percent of students who continued in the program have graduated high school since Horizons expanded its services past eighth grade about 15 years ago. That’s despite serving kids regardless of academic ability, including almost one-third with “diverse learning needs,” from families with an average income of $37,000 a year.
Most Horizons students go on to college, but after the program added postsecondary support, an emphasis on higher education felt limiting. A student interested in earning a commercial driver’s license, for example, expressed reluctance to admit to an ambition other than a four-year degree. Horizons wants those who aspire to trades to know those choices are encouraged and valued. Borkowski often highlights a young woman’s determination to pursue a career in mortuary science.
“We have to light that spark for the kids. If they’re telling us what we want to hear, we’re failing,” he says. “If they’re telling us what they want, and they’re proud of it, then we’ve succeeded.”
Though Horizons has no formal affiliation with the University, it has deep ties to the campus community. Greg Dingens, Patrick Collins, Patrick Sexton and Mike and Kathy Murdock, all 1986 classmates, founded the organization in 1991 along with Saint Mary’s graduates Michaeleen Green and Suzanne Saletta, to provide what they considered the essential ingredients of a young person’s success: access to quality education, strong adult support and exposure to community resources. And the Declan Drumm Sullivan Memorial Fund, established in honor of the Notre Dame student who died in 2010 while filming a football practice, has become one of Horizons’ biggest supporters. An April gala honoring that affiliation, now in its 13th year, included dignitaries such as former University President Rev. John I. Jenkins, CSC, ’76, ’78M.A., outgoing and incoming athletic directors Jack Swarbrick ’76 and Pete Bevacqua ’93, and football coach Marcus Freeman.
The fundraising buffers a roughly $3 million annual budget that allows a full-time staff of 15 to help students and families flourish in difficult circumstances. Tineshia Patterson, a mother of four Horizons students, says donors should understand the life-changing impact of their contributions. But those involved also stress the intangible value of the program’s collaborative, interpersonal approach.
“We do it with the family, not for the family; we do it with the schools, not for the schools,” says Chanita Jones, director of academic support services and one of two former Horizons students now working there. “There’s this togetherness that I really think strengthens the organization and makes me love it so much.”
Colgan recalls the story of a mother who had recently left an abusive relationship. All three of her daughters were in the program and, with Horizons’ help, moved from an underfunded public school to one of the organization’s partner parochial schools. To be a model for her girls, the mother went back to school, received a nursing degree and “earned her way out” of Horizons. That means she reached an income level where her daughters no longer needed the program’s support. “It’s time for someone else,” she said.
“It was breathtaking,” Colgan says, “the transformation of this family.”
Horizons board member and mentor Peter Leonard ’09, executive director of student assessment for Chicago Public Schools, knows the beneficial work of many nonprofits that support the city’s children. The all-encompassing way in which Horizons envelops students and families stands out.
“I think the difference with Horizons is that it really welcomes families into a community and kind of walks with them through a student’s educational journey,” Leonard says. “It’s not just about academics. It’s not just about character development. It’s not just about linking families to services. It’s all of those things, and it’s continuous over time.”
Leonard has been a mentor to Patterson’s youngest child, Bryce, since he was in kindergarten. Now a rising high school sophomore, Bryce likes to cook, so he and Leonard dabble with dishes like pancakes and shrimp pasta. They also play basketball together, though Bryce’s growth spurt has altered the balance of power in those games. Over the years, the families have grown close. Mother and son were guests at Leonard’s wedding.
In Patterson’s experience with Horizons, those kinds of connections are common with people throughout the organization.
“They’re life partners,” she says. “If I needed to call or text one of them right now, I could. If I needed to speak with one of them during the summer break, I still have contact with them. They’re going to work very, very hard, consistently and in conjunction with me, to help with whatever it is that I need.”
Jason Kelly is editor of this magazine.